THE SEA FISHER IN FOREIGN PARTS 471 



amounting to slaughter rather than sport ; at such times you 

 may purchase for a penny or twopence each, fish of 20 Ibs. to 

 30 Ibs. 



In the spring bass fishing begins at Mogador, and 'Sarcelle,' 

 one May day, after a fierce struggle killed a grand specimen of 

 10} Ibs. on single gut. The fish twice emptied the winch, and 

 the second time it was necessary to throw the rod overboard 

 and allow the whole concern to take its own way. The fun 

 among the bass is intensified by an odd azlimzah, which makes 

 short work of the finer tackle used for the shyer sea perch. 

 When bass or other fish are playing about in shoals pursuing 

 the anchovies, the commotion in the water is called by the 

 natives ' tiferdeen.' For bass fishing a tin spinner, with a strip 

 of octopus arm on the bend of a single hook, and at the end of 

 a long snooding of sinnet a length of single gut, is trailed with 

 a bamboo rod over the stern. At the cry of ' tiferdeen ' cas- 

 cades of anchovies are seen tumbling into the air in all direc- 

 tions, and the face of the water is disturbed with the mighty 

 splashes of heavy fish, chiefly bass. As the shoals of anchovies 

 hasten seawards the boats follow, and in their bolder moments 

 the bass take the bait close alongside. On one of his good days 

 ' Sarcelle ' caught ten bass and a few other fish, the grand total 

 being about 140 Ibs. It was a great bag, for though the biggest 

 fish was not more than eight and a half pounds, the majority were 

 three- and two-pounders. The bass leave the coast in July, 

 and there is then business with the maigres. The azlimzah is 

 described as a thick-built, large-headed, coarse-scaled fish, with 

 percoid front dorsals, grey-golden in hue, four or five feet long 

 and weighing 25 Ibs. to 60 Ibs. each. 



The bonito is ready-found game on all the Atlantic stations, 

 and at St. Helena the officers obtain good baskets by using 

 bamboo rods about fourteen feet long, Nottingham winches, 

 and about one hundred and twenty yards of line. The bait is 



